Yaayyy Sunshine!!

So  what do we get on the first day back to work? Yes you guessed it, Sunshine! And this means you get to see my Christmas mani in all its holographic glory, that is Picture Polish Kryptonite, along with OPI The Man With The Golden Gun and Models Prefer Ruby Slippers.

And another picture just because!

Christmas Day Nails...

Christmas for me doesn't really start until the Christmas Tree is up and decorated by children! I know this seems strange, but it seems totally alien to me to decorate my own tree, when I have children to do it for me. This year has been extra special because Mr 3 and Miss 2 have done the decorating! And I haven't changed any of their placements either, its all exactly as they have left it.

On  to my mani, which means the traditional Christmas colours of green for the tree, red for Father Christmas and gold for one of the gifts the wise men bought. Some years I have toyed with other colour schemes, but I always find myself returning to these colours.

I'm afraid there are no sunlight pictures as it poured with rain on Christmas day, and today has been very overcast and windy, so unfortunately you are not seeing this particular mani at its best. Picture Polish Kryptonite was the only colour I could choose for the tree, it being a beautiful holographic deep green colour. Once again this was three coats even though two would have been enough. Then one coat of OPI The Man With The Golden Gun, a real 18ct gold flake topcoat. Lastly one coat of Models Prefer Ruby Slippers a fine red glitter with tiny red and silver hexs. Plus a top coat of Seche Vite to smooth it all out and make it super glossy.

A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year

to you and yours,

may you have peace, health and happiness in 2013

Ethereal Fairies!

Day three and Fairies were the order of the day for Miss 2. And I had just the polish that had captured said fairies in a bottle, can you guess who had?

Lynnderella, although the name was a very unfairy like Bride of Franken!

I wanted to do something very sheer and ethereal looking, so I used one coat of the un-named purple from the Chi Chi Pastel Collection and then two coats of Lynnderella Bride of Franken followed by a Seche Vite top coat.

When I saw just how much the sunlight had washed out the colour, I added another thin layer of Chi Chi Pastel Collection purple followed by two coats of Lynnderella Bride of Franken and Seche Vite top coat. Even though I ended up with eight layers of polish, this still looked very sheer and magical.

 

And speaking of magical, Mr 3 and I also now know "How to Train your Dragon"!! Along with being able to put transformers back together again!

Guest Post!

Miss2 along with her brother Mr3 and their parents came to stay with us for a short while in order for us to have our Christmas early.
Miss2's choice on day one was Victoriana's Steel Reverie a sheer pale pink with a ton of holographic sparkles and bar glitter. Mr3 also decided that this polish was right up his street so he too, was also polished to perfection.

On day two, whilst Mr3 and his dad were out fishing (they caught puffer fish if anyone is interested) Miss2 decided on pink polish. And after much consideration of the pink/purple drawer of 38 polishes Miss2 made her choice and here it is in all its holographic beauty Ozotic Pro 513 which is now sadly discontinued.

Christmas Trio - Stolen Reindeer

And this is Femme Fatale's Stolen Reindeer, a beautiful brown glitter with copper hexs and string glitter along with some fuchsia hexs and a smattering of large red hexs for Rudolf's red nose. Which makes this polish look very jewel like in low light.

And a sunlight picture where you can see the colour is very rich indeed. This was two coats of Picture Polish Demeter with one coat of Femme Fatale Stolen Reindeer and two coats of Seche Vite to make everything ultra smooth.
If I had to choose a favourite polish out of this Christmas Trio it would have to be A Frosty Shake, because of the pearlized glitter and turquoise square glitter.

Christmas Trio - A Frosty Shake

Even with no sun you can see that Femme Fatale A Frosty Shake is beautiful! When I first saw Femme Fatale's Christmas Trio I wasn't that enamoured with A Frosty Shake but with each stroke of the brush I found myself loving it more and more. It has a soft gentle beauty all of its own and to my mind looks like glistening snow in the sunlight. This is the first white mani that I actually loved and have posted here.

So this mani was two coats of Picture Polish White Wedding, then two coats of Femme Fatale which has pearlized large and small hexs, mint green leaning to turquoise squares, plus a load more sparkle dust. Followed by a coat of Seche Vite.
I have found Femme Fatale's polishes beautifully constructed and with no need to fish for anything. My next post will be about the last of the Christmas Trio, Stolen Reindeer.

Christmas Collections

In looking around at all the Christmas Collections currently being touted on the Internet from various Indie brands- the one that caught my eye the most and with such cute names like Stolen Reindeer, Suspended Starlight and Frosty Shake quickly became a "I couldn't live without" was Femme Fatale's Christmas Trio. This was my first purchase from Femme Fatale and I must just say shipping was ultra quick.

There is no need to guess which polish I tried out first! Well it only seemed fitting since I was still wearing Picture Polish Cosmos to layer Femme Fatale Suspended Starlight on top. This was one coat and I didn't even have to fish for the stars and moons at all, which by the way are holographic! There is also dark blue,green and purple glitter too, which are all the extra sparkly kind. And then two coats of Seche Vite to smooth it all out.

The Beautiful Cosmos!

This one is totally out there! Picture Polish in collaboration with Pshiiit Boutique have thought up the most beautiful royal blue polish and if that wasn't enough they then loaded it up with scattered holographic particles! The result is one spectacular nail polish going straight in to my Top Ten of all Time.

A sunlight photo, where you can see how beautiful the blue is but the holographic goodness has been washed out a bit. This was three coats of Picture Polish Cosmos although two would have been more than enough, but I wanted the depth of looking in to the Cosmos, followed by a top coat of Seche Vite which has not dulled the holographic particles at all.

 

Trust me this is an absolutely stunning polish and I only wish my photos could have captured it's real life beauty. In the sun the holographic particles are absolutely blazing!

So where can you get your hands on this beauty? You can visit any of the links below to see what other wonderful goodies they have. I personally have more than a few of their polishes in my Top Fifty!

Visit our on-line store - www.picturepolish.com.au

Like us on Facebook - piCture pOlish - a week on your tips never on your hips!

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This product was provided for review.

Pastel Skittles!

How pretty are these Chi Chi Pastels? They are super gorgeous and drew loads of comments at work; ranging from "schizophrenic nails" to "I used to do that in the sixties"  and the guys certainly noticed too! I can't really take all the credit because I actually saw this mani on Konadlicious' Blog and whilst I definitely wanted the pastel collection I was a bit chicken to try out this out, until I thought what the hell who would notice!! Chi Chi also have two other collections out  at the moment one is Brights and the other is Glitter, all three collections are currently $15 in Target.

And to prove I have a right hand, here are the other four colours in the collection. And so on to my mani, each colour was three coats followed by a Seche Vite top coat. All the colours applied perfectly and my favourite out of the bunch if I had to chose would be the light purple one.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

I must be going through a pink phase! Because after OPI The Living Daylights, I was searching through my box of tricks (untrieds) when I alighted upon this Picture Polish Twinkle, the free gift I received when I bought their Sugar and Beam Collection recently. And I am amazed I haven't reached for it before! Its a beautiful cool pink leaning lilac with a subtle shimmer running through it, picked up in the photos where the sunlight has hit my nails. It has also joined Wisteria as a must have polish.

So on to my mani, two coats of Picture Polish Twinkle with one coat of OPI Mad As A Hatter brushed on the top part of my nail followed by one coat of Seche Vite. This combination is so girly and I loved it so much I'm still wearing it now! four days later without a chip or scratch and I'm loathed to take it off.

The Living Daylights!

Yes its that time of year again when we have our Annual Shindig at a Very Swanky Location! This year I happened to be staying overnight nearby, so of course that meant I was taking more than one choice of shoes, jewellery etc etc. -And more importantly what was I going to choose for my mani? oh the indecision of it all! Two days before, I bought some new polish just in case I had nothing (as if you can believe that) that would do the job justice!

I tried all the blues to see which matched my dress perfectly and decided upon Models Prefer Skinny Jeans a deep blue indigo perfect in two coats. Topped by two coats of OPI Living Daylights part of OPI's new James Bond Skyfall collection. In case you haven't realised yet this new OPI collection is my new favourite. And then the obligatory Seche Vite top coat.

OPI The Living Daylights is the glitter bomb of the Skyfall collection, it has turquoise, copper and silver medium size hexs that are super glittery and very reflective. I sparkled all night, which might have had something to do with the wine I was drinking! But, more likely due to my mani.

Girly Retro Nails-

Back in the day, this was my mani of choice, usually as a french (pale pink and white) though! But I bought OPI's So So Skullicious 2012 Halloween set and the first colour I tried was the pink A-Rose from the Dead. For those that don't know I'm not really a pink person, as in, I don't even possess clothing in that hue, so this was a complete outside of the box decision! And let me tell you they were Pink, bright Barbie Pink! So what could I do to tone it down a touch? I stamped!

So two coats of A-Rose from the Dead, and stamping with Models Prefer Little Black Dress. Followed by a Seche Vite top coat. I actually wore this mani all week, and its only when I saw the pictures I realized that my stamping is not the best.

Interruptions For An Important Rant!

Its rare that I post anything here other than nail polish swatches, sometimes there is a back story to my polish travails, and sometimes not.
One of the motto's that I have grown up with and believe in whole heartedly is "Stand Up and Be Counted" This motto more than any other helped me in my law career. So here is my "Stand Up and Be Counted" piece.

One of my friends on one of the forums and/or web page communities I belong to posted a picture of her fabulous nails in a less than stellar picture. Which unleashed a campaign of hatred and bullying. Which is having a devastating effect on her.

Can you believe a grown woman can think its OK to come up with a slogan which includes "or die" and not only that but we should all clean up our manicures "or die" I mean seriously, we are talking about a manicure here a harmless, possibly frivolous, activity which gives each of us enjoyment. But more importantly that woman and her cohorts have taken it upon themselves to be both judge and jury to decide who is guilty and presumably "die" for their less than perfect manicures.
In all fairness she did then post an explanation: Not a retraction or sorry but an explanation to attempt to explain away the inexplicable.

So that's OK then, its not your place to call anyone out by name, BUT in your previous article before the proverbial S*** hit the fan it is OK to point out their flaws! NO a hundred million times NO. I'm sorry this is not OK and it will never be OK.

None of us are perfect and here is my imperfect purple mani to show my support for NO H8

I still hate this picture!

    

Celebrating Winning With Pretty Serious VT100

So what did I actually win? Well I chose the winning horse in the Melbourne Cup! Green Moon which is a big deal I believe in Australia, (rather akin to the UK's Grand National, without the jumps) And, yes there is an And to this story. My husbands favourite football team in the whole wide world Celtic beat Barcelona on Wednesday morning which is also a big deal apparently! And their colours are grass green and white hoops. So when I did my mani on Tuesday night I needed a green to reflect my winning and I thought why not support my husbands team at the same time... the only nail polish to fit the bill was Pretty Serious VT100 a beautiful, very lively grass green colour with teeny gold flecks showing wonderfully well in the bottle in these pictures.

So on to my mani, two coats of Pretty Serious VT100, one would have been enough as this polish covers extremely well, but I always do two! Plus a Seche Vite top coat. I'm so glad I bought the "Hello World" collection, all the colours are so beautiful, and you too can also avail yourself of the beautiful cosmetics and polishes at Pretty Serious Cosmetics, a wonderful line started by Kas a nail polish blogger.

Back In Love With OPI

Well  here's a first, for the first time I have worn the exact same mani twice in a row! And how did this come about? I bought part of the new James Bond OPI Skyfall Collection, and this is Goldeneye. A very bright gold which has a touch of orange about it. Unfortunately its only showing the orange here, but trust me its a lot more golden in real life.
  

I've not been too enamoured with OPI's collections based on Countries, I don't know why but they just did not appeal to me. The finish is very much like Picture Polish's Sugar Collection being dark yellow gold and orange glass flecks in a clear base. This was three coats and no top coat, as I find that detracts from the three dimensional effects of the glass flecks.

 

A shade picture which shows the correct colour in the highlight part of my ring finger.

Well What A Week That Was!

Most annoying of all my computer hard drive went AWOL... grrrr! Anyway on to the polish which is what you are here for after all-

You will have to excuse the tip wear this picture was taken after a day at work and Fnug holographic polish does not wear well. So I'm sorry to say you will only get to see one picture of Fnug 39 Futuristica a sky blue holographic polish that costs an arm and a leg from Denmark. This was one coat Fnug aqua base coat followed by two coats of Fnug Futuristica.
Oh and I bought some stamp plates from Konadlicious' blog sale, which I just happened to try that evening. I used Models Prefer Little Black Dress, a perfect one coat black.

Pretty Serious- BSOD

A week or two ago, Pretty Serious had a sale on where all the colours in her first collection were half price. I immediately jumped at the chance to acquire the entire collection of six, and of course the first colour I had to try had was the blue one, BSOD to be precise. Just look at that colour it's gorgeous! 

This was two coats followed by a Seche Vite topcoat. The brush and application were flawless too. I'm so impressed with this collection from a blogger turned creator of Pretty Serious Cosmetics that I will be buying her new collections from her website found here.

Mellow Yellow!

Having The Little People to stay has been very hard on my nails- so that flaw that you can see on my middle nail, is in fact a broken nail. I decided to quickly take some photos whilst I still had them, so I'm afraid these are indoor photos shot in haste. My apologies in advance, but Ozotic Pro 904 the yellow colour is a surprise winner of the Sugar series. I thought I would hate it but even before the brush touched my nails I was mesmerised by the sheer gorgeousness of the colour! And my mani was the most talked about this week too! Catching so many compliments from the guys as well as the girls.

So on to my mani, three coats of Nubar Yellow Primrose a pale creamy yellow from the Nubar Spring Garden Collection 2011. Two coats of Ozotic Pro 904 a lovely bright clear yellow jam packed with ultra reflective glass flecks. One coat of Seche Vite followed by Ozotic Pro 904.

Baby Blue

Continuing with the Ozotic Pro 900 series, here is 903 a beautiful baby blue. Which has the duochrome glass flecks turning blue through to pink.

And the undies of choice was Nubar Blue Hydrangea a soft baby blue colour from Nubar Spring Garden Collection 2011 (YES the first time I went and bought an entire collection of  nail polish!) So on to my mani two coats of Nubar Blue Hydrangea followed by two coats of Ozotic Pro 903, a  coat of Seche Vite to protect my mani. And then then to finish one coat of Ozotic Pro 903 again to really bling out my nails.
I find that by doing my mani this particular way the Seche Vite coat protects my mani, whilst the last coat of Ozotic Pro 903 gives out that wonderful sparkle and glitter without any dulling.  

.

The obligatory indoor shot where you can see the gorgeous soft colour change going on!

Sugar Pink!

As you may have noticed by now, I am not showcasing the first four Ozotic Pro 900's over black or white as several other excellent blogs have done. Instead I have layered them over a base colour similar to the base colour used in the actual polish, this has made them very glittery which is not showing up in my pictures! 

Full sunlight has washed out the colour again! For this mani I used two coats of Essie 740 French Affair a cool toned pink and then two coats Ozotic Pro 901 followed by Seche Vite top coat. 

And finally, an indoor shot where you can see just how foil looking the Ozotic Pro 901 looks. I just love all these new colours from Ozotic Pro, they are perfect for Spring. If you are wondering where to purchase these from, then wonder no more. They are available from Picture Polish or their many Network Members.